as opposed to, you know, white americans being from scotland or norway or -- >> guest: well, i think so, yes. i mean, it's a country. we belong to the, we belong to a nation. and so, um, and it's one that's still there functioning. you know, we haven't left it. and we can't leave it. i mean, it's who we are. >> host: this e-mail from ricardo from texas, how hard was it to get published for the first time? >> guest: well, i think i was very fortunate the first time because, um, i sent some poems to the greenfield review and joe bruschak. he, also, is a great writer and an editor. and he said, do you have any more? and i said, yes. so i sent my, more poems to him. and he made them into a book. and so that little book which doesn't exist, t out of print now -- it's out of print now but "calling myself home" was my first publication. and then i also was publishing in magazines. and it's almost as if there's a process. you usually start with small magazines, small presses and then, you know, just keep going until somebody recognizes your name. because they've seen it enough and then, you